


Lackspurs and Marigolds

by Megane



Category: Brotherhood Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy XV
Genre: A Happier Timeline But Some Things Still Go Down, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Twins, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bonding, Bounty Hunters, Brotherly Bonding, Developing Relationship, Family Bonding, Jokes, Learning to See the Bright Side of Life, Long Lost/Secret Relatives, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Platonic Relationships, Reminiscing, Reunions, Strangers to Friends, Suspicions, Tags May Change, Trauma, learning to cope, non-verbal communication
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-18 15:03:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18252266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megane/pseuds/Megane
Summary: The Argentum twins are reunited after ten long years. Futurus wonders if there's still room for him in Prompto's life, and Prompto shows that, in spite of everything, this was the one wound time hasn't healed. Now, they have to bridge the gap and rebuild their lives together one step at a time.





	Lackspurs and Marigolds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry as always for the recent string of starting fics and either not updating them or killing them off eventually. I feel that really reflects where my mind has been lately. A lot of things have been at play. Regardless, I've been wanting to write a proper Argentwins fic for a while now. This is a... divergent canon, I suppose. So this isn't the boys on a road trip universe; it's a parallel. I hope you enjoy regardless.
> 
> Also! Before I forget: quick shout out to **taizi**! I got the idea for the flower title because of their fic [the weekend we were in love](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15984566/chapters/37289090). (Prompto's marigold~☆) Give it a read!

Prompto’s phone pulsed in off-patterns on his side table. His brows knit together tiredly as he was rudely drawn out of his dream. He first uncurled his legs and immediately sucked in a sharp breath. Gods, he was stiff. It even hurt to breathe. All that running around yesterday finally caught up with him, and it couldn’t have picked a worse time. The vibrating became more insistent. In spite of the discomfort, Prompto cast a tired glare to his left before finally reaching out for the device. With a deep scowl, he pressed on the power button. Even though he had the brightness turned down to thirty percent, the artificial light still burned when he stared directly into it. Prompto slid off his alarm, and he squinted at the phone screen. It took a couple of seconds for his blurry vision to clear before he was finally able to make out the time.

Three forty-five AM. An unholy time to be sure, but he needed to get up and finished his edits on this project. He didn’t mean for his nap to turn into a full-blown knockout sleep, but well… Here he was. He dropped his phone onto the bed, closed his eyes, and let out a steady sigh. The temptation to fall right back asleep was great—he could already feel dreams tugging at the fringes of his mind—but he repeated over and over in his mind that he needed to wake up. Else, this would never get done. And it would have defeated the purpose of him setting an alarm in the first place.  _ And _ his teacher would give him partial credit. Partial.

Prompto frowned again and opened his eyes again. “My ass,” he muttered before finally wriggling out of his bed. He kept his covers wrapped around his form as he slid over to his desk and plunked down in front of his laptop. It took a moment for his laptop to boot up, but when it did, the bright light was exponentially brighter than his cell phone. Prompto hissed in a breath and ducked his face against his covered hands. “Can’t wait for this to be over.” He rubbed his face harshly before finally looking up again. He freed his hands to quickly type in his password.

It was time to get to work.

It didn’t take long for him to shake off the sleepiness and fall back into the rhythm of things. He edited photos hundreds of thousands of times at this point, analog and digitally, and he had a routine. Thankfully, that meant he was essentially on auto-pilot and didn’t have to think too much. For this assignment, he wasn’t going to do anything too experimental. He might’ve if he woke up earlier, but honestly, that was some really good sleep. He felt like he needed it. He yawned wide as he double and triple checked his work. He made sure to save even after the smallest changes. He wasn’t taking any chances. By the end of it, he felt he had something worthy of turning in and turned his wireless printer. As he waited for a test sheet to print, he glanced down at the time and groaned. Well, at least he got enough sleep before hand… 

Prompto plucked the test sheet out of his printer and examined it under the light of his computer. Satisfied that he didn’t find any inconsistencies, he queued up the other images and let them all spit out one at a time. He stood up from his chair and wobbled over to his bed. Maybe he could sneak in a tiny bit of sleep. 

When his printer let out two piercing beeps a little while later, Prompto jolted awake. His body jolted in alarm. He wriggled and shoved his covers off his body, soon emerging from his cocoon like one pissed off butterfly. He wobble-stomped over to his printer and immediately stopped the screaming. He woke his laptop out of sleep mode and saw the bubble notification that read: “PRINTING ERROR.”

     “‘Printing error?’” he repeated. “That’s specific…”

He checked the images that printed, set them off to the side, and stomped over to his wall to flip on the light. Again, it hurt, but it wasn’t as bad this time. There was a bright red light next to the printer’s LED screen. Sure enough, he saw  _ PRINTING ERROR _ on the screen, but that didn’t help shed any light on the situation. He made a note of it and began giving his printer a quick look through. Hoping that he solved the situation, he closed up his printer again and stared up the queue from where it left off. While the light was still on, he examined his pictures more closely. Not his best work, but it’d have to do for now—

The beeping started again, and Prompto let out another groan of frustration. A part of him wanted to just take the five photos he had and just call it quits, but he was stubborn and tired, and he had gotten this far already. He wasted an hour with this back and forth nonsense. Troubleshooting online wasn’t as helpful as he hoped it would be. Outside of emailing the manufacturer directly (which he did anyway, just in case), he never found the answers he needed. After great frustration, all of his images printed out. Having finally tasted success, Prompto thrust his fists up into the air.

“Oh thank the Six.” He ran his fingers through his hair and stared at the time. He figured he could just take a quick nap — an actual one this time — before getting ready for school. Unsure of where his phone was, he set an alarm on his computer, turned off the light, and then flopped onto his bed for thirty minutes of peace.

Proper sunny morning was actually a lot kinder to him, thankfully. He got cleaned up, dressed, and packed without any problems. He forgone cooking breakfast at home and instead ran up the street to catch the convenience store when it first opened. After snagging breakfast, he hurried to meet Noctis at their usual place. Noctis was busy checking his phone when Prompto arrived, but when he turned around, he smirked and said,

     “You look like shit.”

     “Gee, thanks, Noct.” Prompto hooked his arm around his friend’s neck and squashed him closer. “You always know what to say.”

Prompto ignored the curious eyes of the other students. Noctis tapped Prompto’s arm for mercy and straightened up when he was finally released. He gave his friend a once over.

     “So, what’s eating you?”

     “‘m just tired. Woke up waaaaaaaay too early this morning to finish my project and then my printer started shitting at me. Didn’t even figure out why; it was driving me crazy.”

     “Shitting at you, huh? Gross.” Noctis laughed when Prompto half-heartedly shoved him away. “Want me to get you a new one?”

     “No.” Definitely not that. “I mean, it was working fine yesterday. It’s practically new anyway. I think the Six just hate me today or something.”

     “Don’t say that,” Noctis mumbled. He reached up to pinch Prompto’s cheek. “But lemme know if it keeps acting up. I’ll try and help you out.”

     Even as he batted the prince’s hand away, Prompto said, “Thanks, Noct. Means a lot.” It did, honestly. He was always grateful anytime Noctis offered to help him with something, but right now, he didn’t want to think anymore about it until he got to Photography. Then he’d make his decision about what to do. With any luck, the manufacturer would have emailed him back by then. “Want to hit the arcade after school?”

     Now it was Noctis’ turn to sound tired. “Can’t. Got a meeting I ‘need’ to attend.”

     Prompto hummed. “Good ol’ Noct going to a meeting about us little folk~”

     “It’s not like I want to be there.”

     “Awww, don’t be like that.” Prompto hip checked him. “I think it’s cool.”

     Noctis returned the check with a sharp one of his own. “ _ I _ think it’s a bummer.”

Prompto could understand that, in theory anyway. Each meeting was just a reminder of where they truly stood in life. It was a reminder that, one day, the fate of the Kingdom would be in Noctis’ hands. It was scary and probably made it hard to just enjoy life as it came. Prompto had the luxury of lackadaisical days; Noctis didn’t. Prompto’s expression softened, and he rubbed Noctis on the back. Noctis took a deep breath through his nose.

     “But we’ll see though. I know Ignis has some notes for me to review, so maybe I won’t have to stick around for the whole thing.”

     “If you need help with that, I’m always here.”

     Noctis looked over to Prompto and gave a small, easygoing smile. “Yeah. I know.”

Prompto returned the smile with a grin of his own. They headed up to class side-by-side. Instead of going straight to his desk, Prompto took the seat in front of Noctis’. He sat backwards in the chair, set his bag next to his leg, and leaned forward. He watched as Noctis began emptying out his bag, sorting notebooks and homework in order of necessity. Prompto was amused. Maybe Ignis was rubbing off on the prince after all. Or maybe he just needed the distraction. These days, it was hard to differentiate between Ignis’ influence and Noctis’ anxiousness. For a while, Prompto didn’t do anything but watch. He gazed over the different piles with idle interest. When Noctis went searching for something in his bag, Prompto reached out for a stack of worksheets and messed them up.

Noctis heard the rustle, looked up, and sucked his teeth sharply. He reached out and flicked Prompto’s fingers. “Quit it,” he rasped. Prompto laughed and withdrew his hands again. He debated about doing it again as he turned his attention to the outside. In spite of how his morning started, it was a beautiful day and one he could appreciate. The clouds lazily passed through the sky, and soon, sunlight poured into the classroom. Prompto squinted his eyes. A little smile curved his lips as he reveled in the warmth against his skin. He hummed pleasantly.

     “Today’s a great day for taking a nap.”

     Noctis paused in what he was doing and looked outside as well. “You’re telling me…”

The classroom door slid open. Prompto looked over his shoulder towards the sound. Their teacher strolled in with a straight face and a cup of coffee in his hand. Prompto laughed and looked back to Noctis. He jerked his head backwards, acknowledging the teacher.

     “Guess everyone’s having one of those days, huh?” Noctis looked around him and huffed out a laugh. The teacher began setting his items down on the front table.

     “I apologise, everyone. I’ve had a bit of difficulty waking up today.” He lifted up his cup in acknowledge. “But once I’m finished with this, we’ll begin class properly. If any of you need to finish yesterday’s coursework, I advise you use this time to do so.”

Papers rustled suddenly, and there were low murmurs of conversation. Prompto  took this as his cue to return to his desk, but before he stood up, he placed his hands on Noctis’ desk and must everything up. Noctis grimaced at him; Prompto grinned in return.

     “Don’t be a pain.”

     “I’m offended you would that, Noct.” Noctis gestured to his desk, and Prompto shrugged both shoulders. “Must’ve been the wind.”

     “Yuh-huh. You’ll get yours.”

     “Oooh.” Prompto wiggled his fingers. “I’m shaking.”

He bent down to pick up his school bag and stood up, nudging the chair underneath the desk. He wasn’t quick enough to see Noctis stick his foot out, so he ended up stumbling a few steps. Noctis smirked, satisfied with his petty revenge. Prompto cleared his throat and played off the stumble as best as he could. He ended up dropping into his seat without comment and without looking around to see if anyone else saw. Smooth.

Prompto relaxed as most of his classmates focused on their work. He pulled out his notebook to try and look busy, but his mind was somewhere else. Five minutes later, the door slid open, but no one entered. Prompto glanced up just in time to see the teacher step outside the classroom. He wasn’t the only curious one either. A brown-haired student carefully opened the interior curtain to peek into the hall. His head jerked back, and then he glanced over to Prompto. When their eyes met, he ducked his head and turned to the student behind him. She looked surprised, pulled back the window as well, and then gasped softly. The two excitedly talked to each other, occasionally glancing Prompto’s way. Prompto sat up slowly. Another student, interested by their sudden energy, leaned over to get in on the gossip.

     “Huh? Seriously?”

     “We’re serious!”

     Prompto felt anxious. He kept his eyes on the trio as he reached forward to tug on Noctis’ blazer. “Hey, Noct…”

     “Mn?”

Noctis leaned back in his chair, but before he could say anything, the teacher walked back into the room. He dusted his hands together, no longer holding the coffee cup.

     “Now. Good morning, class.”

     “Good morning,” came the courteous, routine reply.

Prompto glanced over and saw the other students settle back in their seats. He still felt uneasy, but he at least put it out of his mind for now. Noctis leaned forward in his seat again. Prompto laced his fingers together over his notebook and anxiously rubbed his thumbs together.

     “First things first. Before we get into our announcements, I would like to introduce our new transfer student. I expect you all to be courteous and to be on your best behaviour.” The teacher gave everyone a pointed look. When no one protested or made any displeased expression, he smiled and looked over to the door. “You can come in now.”

Without knowing why, Prompto felt his anxiety spike. He squeezed his hands together tight and held his breath. The two students off to his far right began whispering to each other again. Prompto tried to ignore them, but he felt as if they were right beside him, exchanging secrets. When the new student finally entered, a blanket of silence fell over the classroom. Prompto felt himself relax out of shock. Standing at the head of the class was a blond with stylishly messy hair. His smile was confident, maybe even a little smug. Everyone in the class was torn between looking at him and looking at Prompto. And who could blame them?

The new student exactly like him.

     “Class, focus please.” No…  _ No, it… _ “This is Futurus Argentum; he’s originally from Duscae, but he’s here to finish out the rest of his education with us.” A few people shot Prompto a curious look, but he ignored them. More than that, he didn’t even notice them. All of his attention was focused solely on the other blond. The teacher continued, “Futurus, is there anything you’d like to say to the class?”

     Futurus drew in a deep breath, seemingly coming alive. His smile tilted more to his right side as his eyes went up towards the ceiling. He rocked back thoughtfully on his heels. “Well. Name’s Futurus,” he said in a singsong voice. “I like long walks and finding the best cheesecake in the city. If you go to the nearby arcade and see the highest score is ‘FTR—’” He pointed both thumbs at himself. “—that’s me.”

Soft laughter covered some of the intrigue. The glances stopped for the time being, but Noctis turned somewhat to turn his confused expression onto Prompto.

     “Your brother?” he mouthed.

Prompto looked at Noctis, unsure of how to respond. He opened his mouth and closed it. He couldn’t explain. Not right now, not here. He nodded, or at least he felt like he did. The gesture was too shaky to mean anything. He didn’t want to agree out loud. Some part of him thought he was still having a post-print-problems nap. This was all too good to be true.

     “Oh! Sorry,” Futurus said. Noctis turned around again. Prompto placed his face in his hands. He steadied his breathing as he idly scratched at his eyebrows. “One last thing: I’m a really big science guy. I’m hoping to study bioengineering in the future.” He smiled and scrunched up his nose before looking back towards the teacher. “Stuff like that, right?”

     The teacher chuckled. “That will do nicely, Futurus. What seat would you like?”

Prompto lifted his head at that and laced his fingers together in front of his face. He sighed against his knuckles, watching as Futurus glanced around at the different seats. There were four empty seats in the class: the one in front of Noctis, the third seat in the third row (which was diagonal from Noctis), the fourth one in the last row, and the second seat right against the wall near the main door. Prompto didn’t know which of them he would have preferred. Though, he knew he hated the idea of Futurus taking the back row. He already felt like he was staring at a ghost from his past; he hated the idea of Futurus would be haunting him from the back of the room after all this time.

Futurus hummed before taking a step towards the third seat in the third row. Prompto felt the stone weight in his stomach lift slightly. Futurus looked back to the teacher, who nodded in approval.

     “Very well. Take your seat, and please have a notebook ready. As for the rest of you, please remove your peer reviewed essays and your feedback worksheets. Today, we’ll—”

Prompto was barely listening. He pulled his homework out his school bag and dropped them onto his desk. His eyes were glued onto Futurus. This was really happening. Futurus’ cocky expression lessened. His smile was still there; he still walked with  that untouchable, enigmatic air, but something was different. Prompto could practically feel the change. In a blink, Futurus looked over towards Prompto, and his smile shifted. It was less sure; it was a fraction of happiness. 

It had been years, and some memories of Futurus had been lost to a mournful haze. But Prompto knew his brother’s nuances. He knew the significance, the importance of this smile. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was genuine. Somehow, in spite of everything, that knowledge was still in him.

Futurus hooked his bag onto the side of his desk and settled into his seat. He licked along his bottom row of teeth as he leaned back in his chair. Just like that, the softness was gone. His expression was unreadable as he focused on the teacher. Seems like his resting face got more intense over the years… Prompto huffed a quiet laugh and stared down at his notebook. When the teacher came around to collect their work, Prompto handed his assignments automatically. As the teacher passed by, a note landed on Prompto’s desk, and his attention went to it immediately.

_           i know this is a stupid question to ask but are you okay? _

Honestly, Prompto wasn’t even sure how to answer that. He reached for his pencil and rolled it under his fingers. What should he say? What  _ could _ he say? He looked back over towards Futurus and then down at the note again.

_           i don’t know, _ he answered truthfully.  _ mind if we talk about it during lunch? i need some time… _

He folded the note back up carefully, relishing the brief distraction while he had it. He glanced around for the teacher before dropping the note in Noctis’ seat right behind his back. Noctis jumped a little but otherwise played it cool. He casually fished the note from under his butt and brought it up onto his desk, out of sight. Prompto sighed again. He rubbed his face with both hands before looking at his palms. His fingers were shaking. Not a lot, but someone would definitely notice if they were close enough. This was already turning out to be a hell of a day. He should have figured with his printer freaking out that he’d really be in for it today. 

For the sake of his sanity, he made a promise not to look over to Futurus too much during class. He did notice that some people were looking curiously between the two. They were probably drawing comparisons, probably trying to figure out why Prompto never mentioned he had a brother before. Honestly, who would have cared? He only became a blip on people’s radar when he started hanging out with the prince, and now this happened. He really was starting to make a name for himself. Unfortunately, he just didn’t know what kind of name that was.

     When the coast was clear, Noctis leaned back in his chair and turned slightly towards Prompto. “Sure,” he said lowly.

     Prompto reached forward and patted him on the shoulder. “Thanks, buddy.”

Gods, he really had some explaining to do, and he wasn’t even really sure where to start. This was one secret of many, really, and this was just putting a foot in the door for everything to come spilling out. Oh. Well, thinking about it that way, that was just great, wasn’t it? Futurus coming around would invite a slew of questions he wasn’t quite ready to deal with yet. (If he was being honest, he wasn’t sure if he’d  _ ever _ be ready to deal with them really…) He shook his head and stopped his thoughts before he ended up in a panic spiral. He decided to just focus on class for now. It was the best distraction he had in front of him.

Ignore the fact that his notes weren’t particularly great today and that he still ended up zoning out a few too many times.

By the time lunch came around, it took everything in Prompto not to launch out of his seat and jettison towards his brother. Most of the other students, however, didn’t exercise the same sense of control. They flanked Prompto and Futurus individually. Most were conscious enough not to crowd Noctis too much, which was funny in a way. People often went out of their way to make sure they weren’t messing with the Crowned Prince himself, that there was always some semblance of breathing room with him. But Prompto? He wasn’t royal; he was an average citizen like the rest of them.  _ He _ was fair game. People were taking more notice of him, just like he  ~~ feared ~~ thought they would. Even one of the girls complimented Prompto on his freckles, which, of course, stood out all the more when he blushed from the sudden attention.

The teacher—bless him—hadn’t left the room yet, and so he managed to call an end to the questioning. Some of Prompto’s classmates didn’t seem too willing to stop just yet, their curiosities not yet sated, but they went back to their own desks pretty quickly. With the crowd dispersed, Futurus rose out of his desk and headed towards the hall. Prompto hurriedly muttered “Be right back” to Noctis and immediately followed after. 

Futurus walked really fast, but Prompto was quick to catch up to him. He opened his mouth to call out, but his voice caught in his throat. He added a bit of a kick to his step and closed the gap between him and Futurus. He caught his brother’s wrist with one hand, and Futurus stopped immediately. Prompto could feel Futurus’ pulse against his fingertips. That coupled with the tangible warmth of Futurus’ skin was proof enough that this was real. This. Was.  _ Real _ . He watched thin shoulders stiffen as Futurus braced himself. Prompto almost laughed again. Good to know he wasn’t the only one about to fall apart in all of this. 

     “...Turus?” Prompto croaked out.

Futurus ducked his head and huffed out a laugh. They stayed like that for a few agonising seconds before he finally turned around. His tongue was pressed against the inside of his cheek as he searched Prompto’s face. His brows were knit together, his gaze a bit too frantic with each passing glance. Small things that belied the calm he was trying to exude. Futurus started to talk again, but he laughed again, nervous. With a small shake of his head, he said the only thing he could.

     “Hey, Prom.”

That was all Prompto needed to surge forward and embrace his twin. He didn’t care who was watching or what the others would say. Futurus didn’t seem to care either. He returned the hug with his own force; he curled his fingers in Prompto’s blazer. Their noses pressed against the crooks of each other’s shoulders. Neither of them wanted to move. This moment was years overdue, school be damned.

Who knew how long it was before they finally broke the embrace. Futurus let out a shuddering breath and patted Prompto hard on the back before drawing away. They held each other at arm’s length. Prompto felt he was on the edge of tears. It was only because they were in public that he managed to hold it together. He noticed that Futurus’ eyes looked a little shinier, but he didn’t say anything. He was sure he looked the same, if not worse.

     “We definitely need to talk,” Futurus suggested.

     Prompto nodded a few times. “Y-yeah.” 

     Futurus began stepping back, and instinctively, Prompto held him a bit tighter. Futurus smiled sadly. “No worries. I’ll still be here.”

It was hard to be sure of that, but Prompto forced himself to agree all the same. He dropped his hands and smoothed them along his legs. He shoved them into his pockets and ducked his head down with a sniffle. Futurus bent forward slightly to catch his attention. Prompto hesitated before meeting his eyes.

     Futurus gave a sad smile and said, “I’ll see you at home.”

Home. Prompto looked forward to it and dreaded it all at the same time. He didn’t trust his voice, so he just nodded again. He let out a soft noise that might’ve sounded like  _ “Yeah _ ”, and that was good enough for Futurus. Futurus took a step back, turned around, and cleared his throat. Prompto watched Futurus’ back. He saw him wipe his nose with the back of his hand and then quickly fix his hair as he walked away. Prompto felt himself smile and then reached up to idly fix his hair as well. He heard slow footsteps behind him then there was a hand on his shoulder.

     “You alright?” Noctis asked.

     “I, uh…” Prompto lowered his hands and wrung them together. He hadn’t entirely processed how he felt. This entire morning was just a confusing twist of emotions. “I’m good,” he decided. “Better.” Maybe. He wasn’t entirely sure. He turned around to face Noctis. “Wanna stay in for lunch?”

     “Yeah. Let’s head downstairs,” the prince said as he drew his hand back. “Besides, I heard the pollen was bad outside anyway.”

     Prompto took the chance for levity, needing any excuse to mentally step away from what just happened. “Gross. I’d rather not get flower babies in my food.”

     Noctis groaned and sneered at Prompto in disgust. “Dude."

Prompto laughed, took Noctis by the shoulders, and spun him around. It felt good to laugh. The sudden change of emotions made goosebumps break out down his arms. He followed Noctis back into the classroom to get their things, and he pointedly ignored the looks turned his way. He and Noctis chatted about mundane things as they always did around lunch. Prompto griped about his photos as they exited the class. In his heart, he knew he’d have to talk about this at some point but not right now. It wouldn’t be long before he’d be properly reunited with his brother again, and he needed to prepare himself to deal with that before handling anything else.  



End file.
